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David is one of my friends on Twitter, and a fantastically talented artist. I personally really love his style and want to own all of the artwork that I have seen of his!

Age? 30

Where do you live? Brantford, Ontario. Small-ish city southwest of Toronto.

What is your favorite colour? I’ve never been able to answer this question. When I was in grade school I always thought there was something wrong with me because all the other kids could tick of their favourite colours immediately. That said, when I play RISK I’m always red.

What is your favorite website at the moment? Twitter. I really enjoy the blog at http://www.colourlovers.com/blog. There is great, creative conversation going on at http://missionaltribe.org. If you have any connection or attraction to Missional Church that is the place for you. (Artists especially) Overall, I think as of late I’ve been more intrigued by social networking projects such as twitter than by any one website.

What are the 3 things that you most like doing with your time? I’ve been reading more in the last couple years than I have in my whole lifetime. Drawing and sketching. If I have a surface within arm’s reach it will be doodled upon. Relaxing with my wife, Amy.

When did you first start using your creativity for God, and how did that come about? It took me a long time to understand that God really did have a use for artists. It wasn’t something that was explicit in my upbringing. Artists were generally seen as being on the outside, discontent with the respectable plan that God really had for their lives. When I went away to art college I began to see again the creative draw that God has and has put inside all of us as co-creators and imaginers. While in school I had the opportunity to illustrate a calendar for Wycliffe Bible Translators. That was the first time I had ever used my art in an expressly Christian avenue.

What inspires you? When I start a piece I often just let my pencil move. As it creates I draw from that energy and begin listening to where I’m heading. In addition: conversation, dreams, music, long drives in the car, smells, sounds, hot showers, good drink, good food, the river…

Who are some of your favorite artists? Much like the colour question, I have don’t have a really solid answer for this.
I could say Egon Schiele for the incredible life and linework of his figures.
And Gustav Klimt for inspiring Schiele.
Ralph Steadman’s influence on the world of illustration is hard to deny.
Also, my friend Ben Weeks (benweeks.ca) is a massive inspiration for the life of his lines and the freshness of his approach and our conversations on art and faith while in school.

What is the most amazing thing that you have seen God do? I’m amazed at how he sprouts faith in the dirtiest corners of our neighborhood streets. The places where faith, hope and love have no business being are the places where they seem to be most often found. I don’t thank God enough for the times when he makes that apparent to me. I don’t know. The most amazing thing I’ve seen God do might be the way he has used the smile of a poor child to change the atmosphere of an entire room.

Do you have any particular projects going on at the moment? The biggest project I have going on right now is my work toward a theology degree. Other than that, I’m working on a variety of ideas and projects with friends; ranging from book covers to animated shorts.

What can we expect to see from you in future? I’m fascinated with the idea of creating a space for creativity, art, interaction, conversation, community, help, prayer, danger, safety, disagreement, and agreement. Oh… and firstly, LOVE.

A group of friends and I are currently dreaming of a church community that emerges out of the neighbourhood garden that surrounds it. Creativity and neighborliness are our number one motivators. Church is Art.

What would you most like to see come out of the Christian Creative scene in the next few years? Connected to our dreams of a church plant is the concept of being deeply local.

I have a real hope for a more radical localization of Christianity. While the past couple decades have seen incredible bursts of creativity from Christianity in everything from music to film it has also been a time of cultural homogeneity and borrowing.

We have been losing our locally unique characteristics as we have been told that we have use such and such music and such and such presentation software and such and such graphic appearances etc… I would love to see our church communities really embrace their local-ness and encourage the creatives among them to develop and design art and creativity that is unique to them; and not just so they can farm that talent out to entire continents.

If we can stop leaning on the creativity of a few “professionals” and start recognizing the deep pools immediately around us we could see beauty and art re-engaged by the Church.

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your heart with the readers here at Artists for Christ! We are honored to have you here. Would you start off by giving us a bit of info on your background, where did you grow up, what is your life like now, that sort of thing.
I am a songwriter, lead worshiper, pastor, & artist.. I’m passionate about mentoring young musicians, writing songs, and leading The Church in worship to their Creator. I grew up around Cincinnati, OH, and now live in Franklin, TN / Nashville where I am the Worship Arts Pastor of Rolling Hills Community Church (www.rollinghillscommunity.org)

I’ve toured over 1800 shows / events over 10 years including major sporting events with the NBA playoffs w/ the New York Knicks & Indiana Pacers, NFL w/ Tennessee Titans & Kansas City Chiefs, MLB w/ Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Dodgers, the NHL, AFL, and more. I’ve also led worship for conferences and conventions including Youth Specialties, State & National Evangelism conventions, as well as many worship & leadership conferences. Most of which happened while with my old band Among Thorns.

What kind of training or schooling do you have that has led to your current success or situation in life?
I went to Carson Newman College. Much of my education has come “on the job”, I have done some schools of music, conferences, & leadership training programs as well. I will truly be a student of life until I am done in the world.

What one thing do you do to find creative inspiration?
I have to find time to be in silence… while reading, writing, or whatever. When I make time for that, all the noise tends to fade so that I can sense the “still small voice”. The true translation of that really means in the “stone silence”. I believe God speaks through many things, but we have to stop ourselves to see and hear Him. With Facebook, Twitter, iPhones, and video gaming we all have our share of distractions / entertainment.

Would you mind sharing the story of how you came to know Christ and how he shows up in your day-to-day life as an artist?
When I was 15 I went through the motions of saying a prayer, doing the “right” things and trying not to do the “wrong” things, but came to find that by the age of 22 I hadn’t surrendered me to Him. I found freedom when I began a relationship at that point when I was 22. Funny thing is, I had already been in Christian music for 3 yrs at that point. I’m glad God is bigger than the religion we substitute for Him sometimes.

I create space in life to read the Scriptures, books, and meditate as much as I can. God is everywhere everyday. He shows up in conversations at coffee shops, pubs, school, and even Urban Outfitters if we pay attention. <smile>

Do you now or have you ever felt isolated as an artist in the world, or do you have a strong community of believers that you stay connected with throughout the day?
I do have some amazing friends. Most of which have their own artsy tweaks to them. The sense of community in my town of Franklin is pretty rad. There is a Godly synergy that is sometimes unexplainable.

As artists we will probably always feel a little different, which can lead to isolation. I have worked on staff at churches and have been made to feel alone. The bigger picture is to be aware of who God has made us to be. He wired you the way you are for a honkin’ reason! I am still wrapping my head/heart around that.

Do you ever use your art as a medium to help others and share the gospel?
I hope so! It’s my heart and strategy that my music, writings, and art relates to people where they are. I hope it engages Believers to respond in worship to their God. For others, I can usually begin to connect just b/c of my appearance. In other words, I probably don’t look like I just walked out of church. <wink> Music is something that everyone can relate to. When people hear that I’m a musician they are 95% willing to converse b/c they are genuinely interested in the music.

I have a few plans to use music to influence positive change in my community through my church I might add.

Do you have any nuggets of wisdom, any tips for young artists who are just starting out?
I started out in music when I was 15. Begin as young as you can, b/c you will be learning forever. Make time to read, listen, love, and create. Whatever you are dreaming, go for it. With the technical tools at our disposal today, you can do it all. If you are a song-writer, write and record it with your Mac (or a friends Mac). If you are an actor, act. Be it at school or wherever. Filmakers, shoot, film, and edit away. Designers, create, craft, and dream on.

The world is waiting for you to show up to the party. If you are a Believer, wear His name well. Don’t run from the world b/c it is different from you. Run TO it. Love it b/c it needs loving… and it needs inspiration with new beautiful, thought provoking art.

What are the 3 things that you most like doing with your time? Well, Gaming with mates (COD4, Halo, Xbox live gamer tag: otenic add me 😛 I’ll play nice first game, lol j/k no i won’t I’ll pwn ya 😉 ), working on designs for youth group, helping out at youth church & church with sound, lighting, drumming…

When did you first start using your creativity for God, and how did that come about? When i started designing! 😀 around 5 years ago when my mates at school got me back into web design, then got excited and we started work on our youth groups first website!

What inspires you? God, the world around me, other creative peoples work and more then often while listing to music.

What is the most amazing thing that you have seen God do? Gave me meaning and my talents! only 5 years as a designer and no formal education, that’s cos God isn’t dependent on what the world offers, he can use you any way you let him! oh sorry back to questions.

Do you have any particular projects going on at the moment? I recently applied for the position of Lead designer at NZ largest Christian youth mag (www.soulpurpose.co.nz) so hopefully get that, Working on Motion graphics for Youth of the Nation Conference including promo video, intro videos and graphics for during worship as well as being Visual Director (live video production etc). I also have another project that is secret so can’t say. sorry 🙁 + I’m working on getting my blog back on track 😀

What can we expect to see from you in future? Hopefully some cool new prototypes for sermon podcast stuff, social network stuff & even awesomer motion graphics! 😀 oh and if all works out a new Faith based T-Shirt company, check back here I’m sure I’ll let these guys know.

What would you most like to see come out of the Christian Creative scene in the next few years? Well what not? I want us to start setting trends, becoming the ‘beginning of art’ as God was and is, inspiring work that gets people thinking and brings them closer to God!

Anything else you would like to say? Keep using our talents for God, but think outside the box, use thought provoking words and ideas to get your message across, and remember God deserves your all, don’t hold back on your designs. And don’t be afraid to use resources like CreativeMYK, Gomedia and others to help enhance your designs, underline the word enhance! and remember He loves you!

Cherise is a Christian creative based in the US. She is a fantastically talented artist and also creates jewelery, literature and music. Cherise is a real encouragement to me, and has a real heart to see creative Christians use their gifts effectively for Christ.

Age? I’m 23.

Where do you live? In the southern United States.

What is your favorite colour? My favorites are blue-green and violet, but I also like any colors on the cool end of the spectrum. Like a true geek, I’ve even memorized the hexadecimal coding for a few of them: #ccccfff, #553399, #440055, #00aaaa, #000099, #00aa00.

What are the 3 things that you most like doing with your time? Art (especially drawing,) reading the Bible and surfing the internet.

When did you first start using your creativity for God, and how did that come about? When I was a child I was more interested in singing, and wrote a few short Christian songs even then. I love art, but I feel that my main calling in serving God is in the field of music. However, I feel that people can glorify God in everything that they do. The unsaved world tries in vain to separate our “secular” lives from our spiritual lives, but a relationship with God permeates everything that you do. It’s not possible to only be a Christian on Sundays!

What inspires you? The Holy Spirit. I also take inspiration from current events and things I’m going through at the time. This usually manifests more in my music and poetry, rather than in my visual art. Most of my writing is not on the internet, but a few pieces can be viewed here: http://www.redbubble.com/people/supergrouper/writing. I also compose music, but so far none of it is on my websites. From an artistic standpoint, bits and pieces of my usual style come from Takeuchi Naoko, Takahashi Rumiko, Watsuki Nobuhiro and various online artists. On thing that really inspired my artistic course early on was an interview with Thomas Kinkade, which I read when I was young. He described his artistic development and said that he was pressured by the local art world to view art as needing to be shocking, offensive or political- but in the end, he decided that art could simply be something beautiful. The art world as it is today relies too much upon shock value and too little on talent. Drawing nudity and gore isn’t difficult. Painting a beautiful, detailed landscape bordering on Trompe-l’œil is far more difficult, and much more rewarding. I want to spread beautiful things and happiness into the world. There is already sufficient darkness here.

What is the most amazing thing that you have seen God do? Wow, it’s hard to choose… I think that curing me of a horrible, almost fatal digestive disease would probably rank in the top ten. The doctors couldn’t cure me, and I had no choice but to believe God- but, as always, He came through. I’ve also seen Him cure cancer in several people, miraculously provide for people in need, and give guidance in troubling situations. I’ve learned that God even cares about the “small” things, if they’re important to us, because He cares about us. My oldest cat- now about 18 years old- was missing for 5 weeks when I was a kid, and God brought her back after Mom prayed. The same cat also weathered an unexpected hurricane outside without sustaining any injury.

Another incident I can think of where God undoubtedly intervened was in an automobile crash a few years ago. My mother had always told me when I was growing up that if I didn’t have time to pray in a crisis, to call out “Jesus!” for help. I had an opportunity to do that when a van I was riding in collided with an 18-wheeler. Seeing the crash unavoidably coming, I called out “Jesus!” Everyone else in the van was hospitalized, but I walked away completely uninjured, even though I was sitting where the impact occurred. I didn’t even feel the impact- it was like something cushioned me.

Do you have any particular projects going on at the moment? Tons of them. Hopefully, I’ll finish at least a few. ^^; I’m working on perfecting new techniques, and in particular I’ve taken an interest in textiles recently. I’m also exploring other types of crafts, and trying to improve my drawing skills. I’ve taken an interest in traditional Japanese kimono, which (to me) are basically like wearable canvases. The traditional type is hand-made and completely unique- often hand-painted in a process called “Yuzen.” I’m interested in replicating this process and using Yuzen on mainstream Western textile art. I’m also interested in modern twists on traditional kimono style, particularly the work of Mamechiyo. Kimono are truly an art, and I would like for that aspect to become more common in Western fashion, as well.

What can we expect to see from you in future? An internationally famous manga series, watercolor paintings, a fashion line, CDs, books and websites. Shoot for the stars! =D

What would you most like to see come out of the Christian Creative scene in the next few years? I’m inclined to agree with C. S. Lewis, who said that he didn’t believe in writing “Christian books,” but in Christians writing books. I think that rather than just aiming products at Christians- although that should be part of it too- Christian artists should enter the mainstream and use their work to lead non-Christians to God. After all, how many lost are going to enter a Christian bookstore and browse there? I believe that faith in God should permeate everything that we do. Any work is noble if done for the glory of God. God anointed artists in the time of Moses with great skill to do the work of creating the tabernacle. I think that in these last days, He is also calling a new generation of artists who will perform great works with the motto, “Soli Deo Gloria.” Bach, the great composer, always signed his works that way- “to God alone be the glory.” God is waiting for the Bachs of our time to answer His call and spread His Name among the nations.

What are the 3 things that you most like doing with your time? Spending time with my wife, design and being inspired by God’s work in others.

When did you first start using your creativity for God, and how did that come about? Well I suppose any creativity I have, has always been used for God since he gave it to me. When did I start being purposeful about it? Within the last few years, I decided to launch Lightvox to share my love of music as ministry and after that everything just fell into place.

What inspires you? Music, It has a very visual element to it.

Who are some of your favorite artists? I enjoy anyone who creates art, as long as you put your heart into it, you can find beauty in all works.

What is the most amazing thing that you have seen God do? God fixed me. He knew I needed to fall before He picked me up. I love how God puts people together at the right place and the right time.

Do you have any particular projects going on at the moment? Just finished the redesign of Lightvox.com, a few client websites and a number of graphic design projects.

What can we expect to see from you in future? I am all over the place. I hope to help others get creative with their ministry. I enjoy sharing what I have learned with others to help them achieve their goals.

What would you most like to see come out of the Christian Creative scene in the next few years? Collaboration.

Where can we find more of your work? Aside from lightvox.com, If you live in the US you can find my work in a number of magazines and newspaper advertisments.

Anything else you would like to say? Hi Mom? Human3rror is my friend? Nah, I would just say thank you James for creating Artists for Christ. Keep up the good work.

John-Marc Grob is a Christian comic book artist and illustrator based in the USA. John-Marc has worked with various big names over the years, and has a fantastic line of childrens books, comics, posters and DVDs.

Age? 41

Where do you live? New Jersey

What is your favorite colour? Purple

What is your favorite website at the moment?www.fulfilledprophecy.com As a Christ follower, this is so amazing and what the Bible speaks of is coming true.

What are the 3 things that you most like doing with your time? First I enjoy quiet time with God, Love being a Dad with my two kids, I love my career as an artist.

When did you first start using your creativity for God, and how did that come about? I was in Middle school, my church needed some art for a mission trip and they asked me, from then on I have been doing a lot for churches and still doing it today.

What inspires you? Being an artist the cool thing is how God gets me into a wave of creativity, from hearing a song and working in the yard, or sleeping! I get the bug when I’m really sleepy and a lot of my best stuff has come from when I’m dead tired.
Who are some of your favorite artists? Boy this is a long list, I’ll try to keep it short. One of my new friends who helped us with our comic book, his name is Jeff Slemons. These are a few others: Claude Monet, The classical Disney artists, The Hildebrandt brothers, Ansel Adams. You’ll see I enjoy all Artists, I really enjoy looking at new Artists too. I owned a gallery for 3 years and I had every kind of style showing.

What is the most amazing thing that you have seen God do? Boy this is the biggest question. I have seen so much too! The two which are big in my life right now is seeing our two children being born and God healing me.

Short story, this past April I went for my yearly eye check up and was told that I was going blind. Believe me when I say I was fine when I heard that this is the truth! No fear or sadness, just peace. As you can see my favorite website tells the whole story too.

The signs of the times I heard in my heart when the doctor told me, I have been studying prophecy for 5 years now and I heard God speaking into my heart as I was being told of my blindness. The doctor was flipping out as she told me, I didn’t flip out, I said “okay” she said again, you’re going blind! I said “okay” and smiled. I didn’t know at the time that someone from my moms church worked there too, more about this too. I told my wife and mom and they were really sad and my wife was really sad for many reasons. I was fine with this news.

I called my pastor up and talked to him and his wife and they prayed over me that night, he too said I’m fine with it? I said yes, he said dude like that’s not normal! I know I’m an artist I said and smiled. I told him what I had on my heart with the times we are in now, and gave him the facts and said God has put this on my heart to reach out to Christians and let them know the truth.

At the time I was part of a mens prayer group friday mornings at our church. I asked for their prayers and told them what I knew was happening, there were about 25 plus guys there. Their prayers were so amazing I couldn’t pray myself and had tears of joy in my heart. That day I had to go to a doctor to see how fast and how bad it was getting. Sitting in the chair and having peace in my heart still, the doctor took me into his room which had some state of the art equipment. After the testing was done, he didn’t see anything wrong with my eyes as the other doctor had. I was touched by God and my sight was restored. Still tears of joy come from knowing the God of the heaven and earth stopped for a second and took time into my life and healed me. He took time His time to answer and heal me, who am I? I’m small little speck on this earth and He took His time to help me.

This goes to the other question about What would I like to see more Creative Christians do? do you understand now? He’s calling you and me and join Him in His fight! This isn’t a game, this is real people who are dieing, family and friends. I pray for the one reading this now to stop and pray to Gods for wisdom to come into to his life. And if you don’t know Jesus Christ as your personal savior I ask you to pray for him to be part of your life right now. This is real stuff, this is eternal life He has for you. God Bless.

Do you have any particular projects going on at the moment? Yea, like any other Artists don’t we have more then we can do … LOL. I have one project called “FriendFish” this is a childrens DVD, then our comic books Mecha Manga Bible Heroes. I do have a few books I’m working on as well too, from coloring books to drawing books, and kids story books. I’m in the beginning of doing a cartoon for a company in Australia called ” I hate my PC”. Working on a series for kids to teach them how to draw on DVD. Again I have a few projects under the box right now too.

What can we expect to see from you in future? My FriendFish could be the first big thing you’ll see, then my coloring books, and my drawing books which will be in a series. I’m working on a full length movie too.

What would you most like to see come out of the Christian Creative scene in the next few years? I want to see more Christian Artists who work in there field as the top ten doing more of His Kingdom! We have a lost great talented people selling them self to the World, and giving God the short end of the stick. I worked for Warner Brothers, Disney, Marvel comics, just to name a few. I have been a Graphic Artist since 1988, I have worked for some of the top AD companies in our area. All of which really didn’t do anything to help spread the Gospel. Since 1998 I changed my thinking and started to do more art and projects which filled the vast hole we have.

The parents are crying out for better kids stories, better kids toys. Yet we see more trashy toys for our kids and stories which are pulling our kids from the truth to the dark side, its like the Star Wars movie. Luke come to the dark side feel the power! When will we wake up and see our youth, our children are getting the message to hate the Bible and God and love yourself! I can’t say it enough and I have spoken my feelings to other Christian Artists, and I get well I need the money or I wanted to work for this company all my life! I’m like what?!! God will provide! God has given you your gift of Art, and your selling him out! Yeah this is a hot topic on my heart as you may see. Thanks : )

Where can we find more of your work? My art has been selling internationally for over 20 years now, from a lot of different stores, and now since the internet this just opens new doors. Most of my stuff is being sold online and in Christian books stores across the country now. I have sold in Sears, K-Mart, Walmart, and many other chain stores too.

Where do you live? Meridian, Idaho
What is your favorite colour? Green

What is your favorite website at the moment? My favorite currently would have to be Twitter.com. Not really a “design” site, but I’m ok with that. 🙂
What are the 3 things that you most like doing with your time? 1. Recording new drums tracks for our band’s songs 2. Playing drums for worship at church 3. New design projects

When did you first start using your creativity for God, and how did that come about? I basically just started designing at age 13 with a buddy of mine, and have been self taught ever since, using inspiration from well known sites.

Who are some of your favorite artists? Chuck Anderson, Logoholik, and Dache

What is the most amazing thing that you have seen God do? I’ve been faithfully tithing off of everything I make. I used to not do this. I would consider it as just “extra” money. But as I’ve been faithful with God has given me on every project, I have seen an incredible amount of blessing, and for that I have not had to do any marketing whatsoever. I also have had to turn down projects. I don’t like doing this, but when you don’t have time to work on the project, and they need it ASAP, that’s really the only thing you can do. God has truly blessed my business exceedingly abundantly above whatever I could’ve asked for. It’s great. God is faithful.

Do you have any particular projects going on at the moment? Yes! I am working on:

1. Website design for a local company called Pavement Specialties
2. 2 business card designs for 2 separate companies
3. A full page & quarter page magazine ad for a company called Extreme Nazarene. We are hoping to publish them in Collide Magazine, Relevant Magazine, as well as a few others.

What can we expect to see from you in future? Honesty, Integrity, and Quality design.

What would you most like to see come out of the Christian Creative scene in the next few years? I would really like to see the Christian scene step it up in the area of design. That means, more designers, and higher quality of work. I think sometimes we tend to lack in the quality aspect. We can always go higher. And we can always improve. I would like to see this continue!

What are the 3 things that you most like doing with your time? Spending time with my new daughter Sophie, my wife, and pushing pixels.

When did you first start using your creativity for God, and how did that come about? I started graphic design so I could be a part of helping Christian organizations better communicate, visually. For a while I wanted to become a Pastor, but God made it clear to me that it was not my calling. There are so many more ways to share the Gospel than standing behind a pulpit. I started doing graffiti in the early 90’s, which led to lots of drawing, which led to Graphic Design.

What inspires you? My life in general, riding the train in the morning, walking in San Francisco, movies, ads, cereal boxes, socks. Wait, what was the question again?

Who are some of your favorite artists? Zoro One has got to be my favorite. Not only is he strikingly handsome, but he got mad skills. Really. Look him up.

What is the most amazing thing that you have seen God do? The birth of my daughter has got to be the most spiritual / powerful experience of my life. Also, the way He orchestrates events, and uses even the bad for good is amazing.

Do you have any particular projects going on at the moment? I’m working on a Hip Hop showcase event happening in March here in California called “empower”. I also have my regular 9-5 working at an advertising agency in San Francisco, and a ton of mini-projects. I’m also a finalist for a Flip Video design contest, so we’ll see what goes down.

What can we expect to see from you in future? Not sure. I really feel like I got to roll with whatever comes at me at this point. One thing I’m learning is leaving myself open to new things. New projects. New experiences. If I plan too hard, I may miss something God’s been orchestrating.

What would you most like to see come out of the Christian Creative scene in the next few years? More honesty. Compassion. People connect with what’s real. The world is bigger than your church. Meet people. Love. EVERYONE. Add a little humor, and loosen up a bit. Creativity. How are we supposed to be the salt of the earth and come off judging and pretending to the world? It shows in our speech, our art, our lives.

Where can we find more of your work? Various restaurant bathrooms (LOL), and, www.pixelicious.com of course.

Today I found something really exciting that I wanted to share. I found an interview with one of our favorite Christian Graffiti artists, Lovepusher, on The Times’ Website! I think it’s so great how Lovepusher is getting out into the secular world and public places with graffiti, but it all being about God, and there being no compromise about that! You can read the interview on the Times Online Website.